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Renting vs. Owning

I’m proud to say that today starts off our first week as building owners, as HRU, the company I run purchased the building that we’ve been renting for the past 13 years. In fact, my company has rented office space for 34 consecutive years until today. Today, we are owners.

There’s a ton of reasons why you rent for 34 years. First and foremost, renting gives you flexibility. Sure, it’s at a cost, but if you want flexibility you pay for that.

There’s also a ton of reason on why we decided to own. We aren’t paying someone else for the space we feel we can stay in for a very long time. We build equity, etc.

This big purchase got me thinking about how many of you, or even my own staff, are renting vs. owning. Not their homes or cars, but their positions. You treat it differently if you own it verse renting it. Being in HR for 20 years I’ve seen a ton of employees who were just renting. They didn’t want to commit to the company, to their position. They were just renting it for a while.

I’ve also seen a ton of people who owned their positions. You know something? I’ve never seen a renter employee be more successful than an owner employee. 100% of the time, those employees who decide to own their positions are more successful.